The chrysalids

After a long incubation among the spiders in the back of the garage, the last bag of Briarwheels clay has reached the wheel. It’s the last vestige of an era. The chrysalids it made are waiting to hatch into another time.

Round, and ‘butter crocks’. New to me, mildly technical to make: a round lidded jar (about 4″x4″), with an inverted and roughly conical jar hanging from the lid to sit snugly inside the outer jar. The inner jar is filled with butter and a layer of water in the bottom of the outer jar keeps it cool. As a refinement I’m only glazing the bottom 1/2″ of the outer jar, to allow some evaporation and further cooling of the unglazed outer walls. The inner jar will be fully glazed to prevent butter fat soaking into it. Watch this space…..

This one would certainly be a challenge to me – I always battle to make lids fit. I pretend it is my spontaneous personality which doesn’t like to measure, rather than mere incompetence with the calipers.

They are all (all 9; the photo of 4 was so that I could use ‘carrillon’) trimmed and ready for the kiln when dry. I cheated a little, making the lids over-size then scoring round the outer edge of the top of the jar before cutting to size. They have all turned out extremely well, so far, much to my amazement.